Toby Harnden was the Daily Telegraph's US Editor, based in Washington DC, from 2006 to 2011. Click here for Toby's website. Follow him on Twitter here @tobyharnden and on Facebook here. He is the author of the bestselling book Dead Men Risen: The Welsh Guards and the Defining Story Britain's War in Afghanistan.

My Top 10 campaign moments of 2007

These are the moments from when I've been out on the campaign trail in 2007 that I'll most remember. It's been a great year for US politics and a huge buzz for me to be able to experience the most exciting presidential campaign in living memory.

2007 has been an excitingÂ year for US politics

I'm grateful to all the readers of my blogs and everything else I've been involved in (most notably the Crossing America project and the Top 100 lists) for the support, suggestions and feedback. This blog has been the third most read on the Telegraph website in 2007 – kudos to Damian Thompson and Mick Cleary for showing that religion and sport trump politics. Many thanks for clicking so often and Happy 2008 to all of you. And without more ado…

I was among the group of reporters who then hopped aboard his "Obama One plane" afterwards and headed straight to Iowa for a string of rallies. The rally was extraordinary – a massive crowd despite bone-numbing sub-zero temperatures andÂ soaring rhetoric as Obama evoked Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy.

I'd filed a big piece on the overall state of the race that day, based partly on interviews with Obama's old poker chums in the state senate in Springfield. I then filed from "Obama One" and also blogged on thetrip.

2. Sitting in a black church for Hillary doing her Southern fried chicken thangSelma, Alabama – 2nd March

An extraordinary spectacle as not one but two Clintons tried to upstage Obama after he accepted an invitation to a civil rights commemoration in Selma, Alabama. I was in the church for Hillary's address as she tried out her Southern accent. Here's my news report on the battle of the pulpits. The day before, I'd spoke to civil rights veterans and filed a story on the tussle for the black vote. I also blogged on Hillary and Obama in Selma.

3. Hearing Fred Thompson joke that he would never be presidentBedford, New Hampshire – 7th November

All reporters worth their salt delight in the moments when a politician is caught off guard and says something that unintentionally reveals an uncomfortable truth about them. So it was in New Hampshire when Fred Thompson, who has run an extraordinarily languid and half-hearted campaign, quipped that he was no way the "next president". Shame I didn't get it on video – it would have been an instant YouTube classic. Here's the exclusive story. I'd earlier been on the Thompson bus campaign launch and had realised it was going to be a disaster when he was introduced as "Senator Fred Roberts" for his first event out of Des Moines.

I was there for the second of four Oprah events and the one that turned out the be the smallest – a mere 8,000 or so there. The event was incredible, not just for Oprah's full-throated endorsement but also for the power and passion of Obama's speech. A few hours earlier, I'd seen a pretty dire Hillary event and the contrast was stark. Here's my news report on the two events, a blog on Oprahbamamania one and another blog on Hillary's problems. I also drew heavily on the Oprah event for this piece on Obama (in my view) becoming the Democratic front runner.

5. With Giuliani as he did Churchill, Thatcher, Blair and Brown in a dayLondon – 1st September

This was an amazing visit by Giuliani and perhaps the high point of his campaign, which is looking like it might be in some trouble at the moment. He underlined his credentials as a player on the world stage by calling on Gordon Brown at Number 10 and Tony Blair, receiving an honour from Lady Thatcher and also being hailed as "Churchill in a baseball cap" by the great man's grand daughter. Four PMs in one day – not bad. Here's the news storyÂ and here's the blog. A close second to this was seeing Giuliani in South Carolina in February when his showed the kind of stuff that was to make him the Republican front runner.

6. On the Hillary bus tour as she shunned real voters Toledo, Iowa – 10th October

This was when I really began to realise that there were some big flaws in the Hillary-as-inevitable strategy and that it was getting up the noses of many Iowans. Here's my piece in the paper and I also blogged on my handshake with Hillary.

It's not often that one gets the chance to meet a political legend so it was fascinating to interview Ted Sorensen, JFK's speechwriter, confidant and adviser. At the time, Obama seems like he was fading and Hillary the all-but- inevitable nominee. But Sorensen made a persuasive case for an Obama victory and did not shrink from giving the unvarnished truth about Hillary. Here's the news storyand my blog on the Sorensen interview.

8. Watching Bill Clinton forget about Hillary talk all about himself in IowaDe Witt, Iowa – 28th November

Another moment of realisation that Hillary had problems. In a tiny hall in De Witt, Iowa I listed to Bill Clinton drone on and on about himself and even describe his wife's campaign as going "back to the future" – a slogan the campaign quickly jettisoned. I filed this news story. I'd previously seen Bill and Hillary campaign together in Des Moines in July (On a personal note, the Des Moines trip was my firstÂ time out on the trail after my daughter was born – a watershed that will make being a reporter on the road and very different experience). Bill was much better behaved then but as I suggested in this report, his presence was always likely to be double-edged.

9. Observing Hillary squirm as she denied Bill was an "evil man"Davenport, Iowa – 30th January

This was great. Hillary's carefully choreographed opening event in Des Moines had just gone off without a hitch. But then she made a joke about being able to deal with bad and evil men in response to a question from a supporter in Davenport, Iowa. Afterwards, she did a press conference in which she got into an awful tangle. I filed this news story and also blogged on the press conference. Looking back, perhaps this day was the reason why she subsequently did so few press conferences and limited (or planted) audience questions.

A much-awaited speech that was beautifully written and eloquently delivered but which, ultimately (in my view, as I blogged), was a big political mistake and a sign of desperation in the face of Mike Huckabee's surge. Here's my report, which includes mention of a fascinating vignette as a Mormon and a Christian evangelical debated their faiths outside (which, incidentally, inspired me to visit Utah for a piece to be published soon). I think Romney made a mistake in airing his Mormon faith at such a late stage in the race – though he gave no details of Mormon doctrines, he opened the door to these being discussed widely. And the bottom line is that many Americans – particularly Republican primary voters – think Mormonism is weird at best and a cult at worst.